Sam Hight

Sam graduated from Skowhegan Area High School and earned his B.A. in Economics from Bowdoin College, graduating with Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa honors. He was an investment banker with Deutsche Bank in Boston before returning to Skowhegan in 2008 to start Hight Ford, part of the Hight Family of Dealerships – a fourth-generation dealer group started in 1911. He is now Dealer Principal at Hight Ford in Skowhegan and Hight Chevrolet GMC in Farmington and is part-owner of Hight Properties LLC and LINE‑X of Skowhegan. He serves on many local boards including Redington Fairview General Hospital, Skowhegan Savings Bank, Educare Central Maine, Kennebec Montessori School, Vice-chair of Maine’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Authority, the Maine Motor Vehicle Franchise Board, and is Chair of Maine Automobile Dealers Association. A Mainebiz’s 40 Under 40 honoree in 2023, and Maine Development Foundation’s Champion of Rural Economic Development in 2025, Sam focuses on community development through economic initiatives such as new business development, affordable housing, early childhood education, and fostering public-private partnerships for the Common Good. In 2025, as Chair of the Building Better Beginning’s Fundraising committee, he helped raise more than $5 million to build the Hight Early Learning Center as part of the new Margaret Chase Smith Community School in Skowhegan. Sam lives with his family in Norridgewock on the banks of the Kennebec River.

“I have lived along the Kennebec River for nearly my entire life and care deeply about its future and the communities that depend on it. My family has owned and operated businesses in the Skowhegan area for more than 115 years, and I joined the Advisory Council to help ensure that any potential changes to the river carefully consider our local economy, Sappi and the jobs and woods industry it supports, municipal revenues, landowners, river access, property values, and the natural environment. Most importantly, I want to make sure the people, families, and businesses of the Kennebec Valley have a meaningful voice in the process and are positioned to succeed through any potential transition.”